Iga Swiatek is like a breath of fresh air. When she is playing, she stuns with her skills and precision. Off the court, Iga is as charming as she is hilarious, with her actions and her openness to discuss various topics. She opened up about how she sang songs by a popular artist when she was facing troubles at the French Open.
Swiatek revealed that she sang Dua Lipa‘s songs when she dropped a set for the first time in over a month. The Polish player was playing against Qinwen Zheng of China when the young player snatched the first set.
Swiatek: “It wasn’t easy to find solutions and to find other tactics and do something differently, because I wasn’t sure what I was doing wrong.”
Says she stopped focusing on the technical and started…singing Dua Lipa.
“That’s not the 1st time. I’m always singing something.” pic.twitter.com/f2KGjRg3bo
— WTA Insider (@WTA_insider) May 30, 2022
Iga revealed that she was singing to keep her mind clear during the match. She added that when things did not work out when she was focusing on the technical aspects, she chose the unconventional route.
It is not the first time for her to sing while playing and she keeps switching up the songs. This time it was the pop star. “It was Dua Lipa, so kind of guilty pleasure,” said Swiatek. While it did not start out the way Swiatek may have wanted, she did come back hard to win the match. Ultimately, Zheng was no match for Iga’s brilliance.
How Iga Swiatek took the game away from Qinwen Zheng
Iga Swiatek was off to a shaky start but she recovered in time to snatch the match away from Zheng. With this victory under her belt, Swiatek extended her remarkable winning streak to 32 matches. Only Venus and Serena Williams had even longer streaks- 35 and 34 respectively. Martina Navratilova remains the only player with the longest-ever unbeaten streak- 74.
When Zheng won the opening set 7-6 (7-5), Iga had to dig in deep to come back into the match. And she did do it, even if she needed a bit of help from Dua Lipa.
Iga emerged from the break between the two sets as a completely different player, with her notebook in hand. She responded by dishing Zheng a bagel in the second set, her 16th of the year. She eventually won the match 6-7 (5-7) 6-0 6-2.
Swiatek made some technical adjustments to her game, like staying lower on her legs and speeding up her forehand. But she had reasons to take confidence from the way she came back in the second set. “I think it’s important that I had this kind of match, which is kind of like a cold shower,” said Iga (via Sports Max TV).
Iga Swiatek was able to overcome this setback and make it to the semifinals. Her good run of form saw her through the finals, lifting the French Open title in 2022.